The blood loop, used here to create a stand-off boom to take a hook snood, uses no additional components like swivels, beads, crimps or stop knots. As Paul Kerry explains it is cheap, does the job and you won’t mind losing it in a snag

The blood loop is probably the most basic fixed-point method of attaching your hook snood to a paternoster style trace body.

It is simple, reasonably effective and cheap making it ideal if you fish rough ground where tackle losses are likely to be quite high.

More importantly it is one of the essential basic knots for sea angling and in this case I’m using it to create a simple stand-off boom.

From this knot there are several variations that are useful for snood connections on different trace set-ups and I will be looking at these in the months ahead.

1. Decide the position on the trace body that you want to connect the hook snood, then make a loop in the line as shown

2. Hold the line where it crosses and twist one around the other approximately four times. I keep the numbers of turns fairly low with thick line, as I find the knot tightens better giving higher strength. You also need to keep the line apart at the centre of the twist to create a ‘hole’

3. Bring the middle of the loop back through the centre of the twists. Pull the loop through enough to create the size you want when the knot is completed

4. Moisten coils and gradually pull each end to tighten knot. If the coils stick then ease them with your fingers. Try not to pull with excessive force until the coils are fully home

5. The completed blood loop. This can be used to connect with a loop tied in the end of the hook snood or by tying the hooklength directly to the loop

6. The blood loop can be made to stand at right angles from the trace body line by pushing a length of hard plastic tube over the loop as shown. This forms a short boom, which helps prevent tangles and boosts bait presentation

7. An even better stand-off boom can be achieved by threading a short length of silicon tubing onto the hook snood. Tie the snood to the end of the loop and push the tubing back over the loop, hard against the end of the tube. This works well on short hook snood flapper rigs

Shockleaders are a necessary requirement for all sea anglers as they allow you to cast heavy rigs long distances, but the problem in usign them lies with knowing just how to tie a shockleader on to the reel's mainline.

With a little bit of practice, tying a typical shockleader knot is actually quite easy, and it's detailed right here, below.

Leaders are essential to avoid breaking the mainline during casting. You need at least 50lb line with a 150g sinker to be safe and 60lb with a 170g sinker.

To cast a reasonable distance and fish effectively, a 15-20lb mainline is enough on sand/shingle beaches and therefore you need to join the two. Keep the knot in the thick leader line as small as possible, so a simple overhand knot is a good choice...

1. Tie a simple overhand knot on the 50lb or 60lb leader line

2. Put the end of the mainline through the overhand knot before it is pulled tight

3. Wet the overhand knotwith saliva and pull it really tight

4. Pull about 20cm of mainline through the overhand knot, then make a loop near the overhand knot and hold with your thumb and forefinger

5. Take the loose end of mainline about six times around the leader

6. Take the loose end of the mainline back towards the loop and put it through the loop

7. Put the mainline around the leader line twice for additional security

8. Gently pull on the mainline behind the overhand knot on the leader line and the loose end of the mainline. This takes out any slack and beds the coils neatly into position

9. Wet the whole knot and pull the mainline behind the overhand knot to tighten up the coils

10. Pull the loose end of the mainline to make sure the coils are tight and give the overhand knot on the leader an extra pull to make it really tight.

11. The finished knot should look neat with the mainline coils close together to minimise any chance of slippage

The spider knot is ideal for rough ground fishing where the shockleader doubles as a rubbing piece, being easier to master than the Bimini hitch. Do not use this for distance casting over clean ground.

1. Take the mainline and double over a length to make a loop of about 2ft

2. Now make a small loop with at least 15in or so of double line above it

3. Hold the loop between thumb and forefinger and wind the double line around the loop and your thumb. Hold the loop as shown so you can space the loops along it

4. Make four loops in all, nicely spaced and ending at the top of your thumb

5. Pass the end of the double line through the small loop

6. Slowly pull through the loop, allowing the coils to roll off your thumb only one at a time

7. Use plenty of saliva for lubrication to stop heat generating and damaging the line

when snugging up the knot

8. The hitch part of the knot. Note it is not pulled up completely tight

9. You should now have a large loop of mainline. The tag end can be cut off, although not too close at this stage

10. Pass the end of your leader through the loop so about 6in protrudes

11. Hold the end of the loop and leader together betweenyour thumb and forefinger. Then startwinding the leader tag around the loop

12. Make three turns of the leader around the mainline loop down towards the hitch

13. Make one and a half twists back towards your thumb and forefinger

14. Now pass the tag end between the two sides of the loop in the mainline nearest your thumb

15. Pull it up nice and tight, not forgetting to add some saliva. After trimming off the tag end it should look like this picture The finished knot. Don’t worry about the long loop because, with practise, you will be able to reduce the length.

The water knot has many uses for the angler. It can be used to link hooklength to mainline, it can be used to join a paternoster link to a mainline, and it can even be used to join mono to braid.

Many anglers use this knot to link their pole mainline to the hooklength, especially when fishing delicate rigs, because it is far more direct than the more commonly used loop to loop technique.

STEP 1

Lay the two lines you wish to tie alongside each other.

STEP 2

Form a substantial loop using the two lines

STEP 3

Ensure the two lengths of line are together and thread the pair of tags ends through the loop three times.

STEP 4

Moisten the knot with saliva or water and slowly pull it tight. Trim off the tag ends accordingly to either create a straight profile when joining a mainline to hooklength, or cut the tag ends to create a paternoster link for legering purposes.